Tamer Stephens was born in Kentucky in 1807. She married Washington Lemmon in 1826 and they were the parents of 12 children, all of them raised to adulthood. They came to Utah with Captain Henry B. M. Jolley Company in 1852. Her oldest son James, was a member of the Mormon Battalion.

The family settled in the Millcreek area of Salt Lake County. Washington entered into plural marriage when he took two other wives; Rachel Sharp in 1856, and Ann Walters in 1863 He served a mission to his native Indian, leaving his large family to care for themselves.

Tamer was quite a poet, having one of her poems, "Christ's Second Coming" published in the Millennial Star. She died in 1893 in Millcreek, Utah, and Washington died in 1902 also in Millcreek, Utah.